Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
24 Hour Fitness was my bathroom
“We played to like five people that night and reluctantly ate raw ground pork to avoid being rude.”
At a tour stop in Germany, San Diego band Hey, Chels "played to like five people... and reluctantly ate raw ground pork to avoid being rude."
Ricky Schmidt, bassist of local band Hey, Chels — comma included — never expected a giant German stinky dog to cross his path. But life is full of surprises.
“Day two [of the tour] took us to a rural town called Arnstadt,” remembers Schmidt, who also plays with Western Settings. “Arnstadt didn’t seem like it had much going on except for a suicide cliff that historically has been used to jump off of when you wanted to end it. That, and a little house that had been converted into a somewhat legitimate venue. It had a stage and a bar while maintaining the integrity of a house, with each room being different and weird.
“It was run by the sweetest guy named Udo and his giant, dopey, stinky dog named Beethoven. This venue looked like it maybe had its heyday in the ’80s, and was most likely catering to the hair metal of the time, judging by the posters on the walls. We played to like five people that night and reluctantly ate raw ground pork to avoid being rude. Apparently that is a thing in Germany. Not a fan. I do love Germany though.”
Schmidt can gamble on the open road, but he’s fond of his own pond, too, which he shares with Hey, Chels singer Jax Mendez. “Jax and I live in City Heights, more specifically Azalea Park, even more specifically... just kidding. Kevin [White, guitar] lives in University Heights. Steph [Presz, drummer] lives two hours north somewhere in vast landscape that is L.A.
“Our favorite thing about City Heights is Tower Bar, Black Cat, and El Super. I personally really like being in City Heights, it’s close enough to everything while still feeling quiet.”
He’s done his share of wandering, though. “In the last decade these are the neighborhoods I lived in, chronologically ordered: Poway, Little Italy, Pacific Beach, Golden Hill, North Park, Normal Heights, North Park again, Ocean Beach, back to Normal Heights, and now, finally, City Heights.
“That doesn’t include a couple extended periods of time where 24 Hour Fitness was my bathroom, my car was my bedroom, and the city was my living room. Honestly, I think all these neighborhoods are cool for their own reasons, each offering unique charm. Except for Poway, there’s nothing really there for a person like me.
The new album is Everything Goes. They aren’t asking for donations, even in an age where everyone’s asking for donations. Schmidt explains. “Well first off we don’t have physical copies yet. Second off, the world is falling apart before our eyes. A lot of people don’t even have jobs anymore or the future doesn’t look so secure suddenly.
“I think a big part of doing the music thing is sharing it with people and we don’t want people to have to pay in order for that to happen right now. If we were doing this for the money we would have stopped a looooooong time ago.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
24 Hour Fitness was my bathroom
“We played to like five people that night and reluctantly ate raw ground pork to avoid being rude.”
24 Hour Fitness was my bathroom
“We played to like five people that night and reluctantly ate raw ground pork to avoid being rude.”
At a tour stop in Germany, San Diego band Hey, Chels "played to like five people... and reluctantly ate raw ground pork to avoid being rude."
Ricky Schmidt, bassist of local band Hey, Chels — comma included — never expected a giant German stinky dog to cross his path. But life is full of surprises.
“Day two [of the tour] took us to a rural town called Arnstadt,” remembers Schmidt, who also plays with Western Settings. “Arnstadt didn’t seem like it had much going on except for a suicide cliff that historically has been used to jump off of when you wanted to end it. That, and a little house that had been converted into a somewhat legitimate venue. It had a stage and a bar while maintaining the integrity of a house, with each room being different and weird.
“It was run by the sweetest guy named Udo and his giant, dopey, stinky dog named Beethoven. This venue looked like it maybe had its heyday in the ’80s, and was most likely catering to the hair metal of the time, judging by the posters on the walls. We played to like five people that night and reluctantly ate raw ground pork to avoid being rude. Apparently that is a thing in Germany. Not a fan. I do love Germany though.”
Schmidt can gamble on the open road, but he’s fond of his own pond, too, which he shares with Hey, Chels singer Jax Mendez. “Jax and I live in City Heights, more specifically Azalea Park, even more specifically... just kidding. Kevin [White, guitar] lives in University Heights. Steph [Presz, drummer] lives two hours north somewhere in vast landscape that is L.A.
“Our favorite thing about City Heights is Tower Bar, Black Cat, and El Super. I personally really like being in City Heights, it’s close enough to everything while still feeling quiet.”
He’s done his share of wandering, though. “In the last decade these are the neighborhoods I lived in, chronologically ordered: Poway, Little Italy, Pacific Beach, Golden Hill, North Park, Normal Heights, North Park again, Ocean Beach, back to Normal Heights, and now, finally, City Heights.
“That doesn’t include a couple extended periods of time where 24 Hour Fitness was my bathroom, my car was my bedroom, and the city was my living room. Honestly, I think all these neighborhoods are cool for their own reasons, each offering unique charm. Except for Poway, there’s nothing really there for a person like me.
The new album is Everything Goes. They aren’t asking for donations, even in an age where everyone’s asking for donations. Schmidt explains. “Well first off we don’t have physical copies yet. Second off, the world is falling apart before our eyes. A lot of people don’t even have jobs anymore or the future doesn’t look so secure suddenly.
“I think a big part of doing the music thing is sharing it with people and we don’t want people to have to pay in order for that to happen right now. If we were doing this for the money we would have stopped a looooooong time ago.”
Comments